This spring, activist and Buddhist/yoga teacher Michael Stone, along with filmmaker Ian MacKenzie, sought donations for a crowdfunded short film called Reactor, about Japan’s response to last year’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
Stone and MacKenzie have exceeded their fundraising goal and traveled to Japan, where they’re posting updates about their travels and filmmaking process.
Stone — author of “What’s the Music All About?” in the May 2012 issue of Lion’s Roar — seeks to answer several questions with Reactor. “How are the old Zen traditions and cities of beautiful temples responding? How are the young rethinking the stories of their lives? How can we embody the Bodhisattva vow in this time?” he asks.
In this videoblog, Stone meets with nuclear physicist Tetsuji Imanaka, who speaks of his own anxieties and concerns about nuclear power. The meeting inspired Stone and MacKenzie to visit Hiroshima. Stone says it was important for him not only to see Hiroshima and talk to residents, but to “look at the part of us that is competitive and greedy and can go to war.”
